VALERIANACE-aS. 



form of a rounded thickened rim. Corolla white, funnel-shaped 

 smooth : the tube gibbous at the base on that side of the flower turned 

 away from the axis, hairy internally : limb spreading, divided into 5 

 nearly equal, concave, linear, rounded lobes. Stamens 3, exserted, 

 white, from the middle of the tube of the corolla. Ovary inferior, 

 narrow-oblong, compressed, 1-celled, with a single pendulous ovule : 

 style filiform : stigma divided into 3 filiform lobes. Fruit light brown, 

 linear-ovate, compressed, with a slightly elevated ridge on one side, 

 terminated by the permanent calyx, whose limb has unrolled into 12 

 filiform plumose recurved segments, crowning it like pappus. — The 

 aromatic or rather fetid roots are stimulant, not only acting upon the 

 secretions, but producing a specific influence over the cerebro-spinal 

 system, bringing on, as is well known, a kind of intoxication in cats, 

 and in large doses occasioning in man scintillations, agitation, and even 

 convulsions. It is chiefly employed in asthenic fevers, epilepsy, chorea, 

 hysteria, and as an anthelmintic. 



965. V. Dioscoridis Fl. Grcec. i. 24. t. 33. — <bov, Dioscorides. 

 — Near Limysus, a river of Lycia. 



Root of several, fleshy, fusiform tubers, with an aromatic peppery 

 smell, almost like that of Valeriana officinalis, but less unpleasant. 

 All the herbage smooth. Stem erect, annual, 2 feet high, simple, leafy, 

 taper, hollow. Radical leaves numerous, petiolate, lyrate, pinnated ; 

 the leaflets opposite, sessile, ovate, with spreading teeth, and veiny : 

 the odd one very large. Stem leaves few, opposite, sessile, pinnated; 

 the leaflets nearly equal, lanceolate, unequally toothed. Cyme terminal, 

 trichotomous, many-flowered, thyrsoid. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate. 

 Flowers flesh-coloured. Corolla funnel-shaped, not spurred, with a 

 nearly regular limb. Stamens 3, equal. Anthers yellowish. Stigma 

 simple. Fruit keeled on the outside, 3-ribbed on the inside, rather 

 downy, with a radiant feathery pappus. Smith. — According to Sibthorp 

 this is the real Phu of Dioscorides, and therefore the most powerful of 

 the Valerians, for which V. officinalis is to be merely considered the 

 northern substitute. De Candolle refers the species to V. sisymbriifolia 

 of Desfontaines, an oriental plant ; but the synonymy does not appear 

 to be certain, and the former learned Botanist was not personally 

 acquainted with the subject. 



966. V. Hardwickii Wall, in Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 166. As. Re- 

 search, vi. 350. DC. prodr. iv. 640. — Mountains in the north 

 of India. 



Pubescent, erect. Stem striated. Radical leaves numerous, long- 

 stalked, ovate-cordate, acute, unequally sinuated ; cauline sessile, 

 remote, pinnatifid. Corymbs becoming long and panicled; pedicels 

 dichotomous. Stamens enclosed. Fruit ovate, downy. DC. — The 

 thick, fleshy, strong scented root is used in medicine in Nepal and the 

 North of India. Royle's lecture, 82. 



472 



